Refrigerator cabinet



D. A. soLLEY, JR 2,783,030

REFRIGERATOR CABINET Feb. 2'6, 1957 Filed Dec. ll, 1955 INVENTOR. boUGLAs A. soLLEY. JR.

HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent() REFRIGERA'I'OR CABINET Douglas A. Solley, Jr., Erie, Pa., assigner to General Electric Company, acorporation of New York Application December 11, 1953,'Serial No. 397,687 4 claims. (c1. 2574-9) My ,invention relates to refrigerator cabinets, and more particularly to an improved compartment for use within a refrigerator cabinet for the purpose of maintaining food, such as butter or the like, at a temperature suitable for the preservation thereof, but higher than that Within the main refrigerated compartment of the cabinet.

In order that most foodstuffs may be properly preserved it is necessary to maintain the cabinets of domestic refrigerators at a temperature so low that butter kept therein is too hard for spreading. For that reason the practice has -arisen of furnishing a .separate compartment within the cabinet wherein the butter may be maintained at a temperature suitable for the preservation thereof, but somewhat higher than that maintained in the main refrigerated compartment. Various compartment structures have been provided and various methods have been employed for maintaining `them at the desired higher temperature, but none as yet have proved wholly satisfactory. The method most commonly used has been to provide an insulated compartment, electric heater combination in which the heater warms the compartment .or conditioner to the desired temperature. This method has given the required butter-spreading .temperature but it is not entirely satisfactory due to both its `original and operating costs. It is expensive to produce due to the heater controls and wiring required, and it of course requires electric power for operation. Thus, because of these disadvantages, ,some `attempts have been made to provide non-electrical conditioners relying on lheat lleakage into the cabinet for their operation, but lheretofore no successful conditioner of that type has been available. None of these attempts has produced an inexpensive conditioner which will maintain butter in a satisfactory spreading condition over a Wide range of room temperatures.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to lprovide a new .and improved refrigerator cabinet having main and .auxiliary compartments in which the auxiliary compartment is maintained at a higher temperature than the main kcompartment solely vthrough heat leakage means.

lt is another .object of my invention .to provide within a refrigerator cabinet a novelbutter -conditioner compartment which is warmed by heat transferred thereto from the outer liner of the cabinet.

.it is a further `object of my invention to provide a new and improved means for transferring heat yfrom the outer panel of a refrigerator Cabinet `,to an auxiliary butter conditioner compartment contained therein.

Another object of my invention is to -provide within a refrigerator .cabinetl a new and improved means for conducting :heat from the outer panel of the cabinet to a but-ter .conditioner compartment wherein `the Aheat ,transfer effectiveness may be varied through manually operable means.

A further object of my invention is to provide within refrigerator cabinet a new and improved heat transfer path between the outer panel of the cabinet and a butter conditioner compartment, wherein 'an insulating dead air lCe 'space may be introduced at will through manually operable means.

Stiil a further object of my invention is to provide a new and improved means `for conducting heat from the -inter panel of la refrigerator cabinet to a butter conditioner compartment contained therein whereby dew formation on the outer panel is substantially avoided. i

it is another object of my invention to provide new and improved means for Vimpeding the transfer of heat between communicating main and auxiliary compartments of a refrigerator cabinet.

f My invention also has as its object the provision of a new and improved door structure for closing the access opening between an auxiliary compartment and the main compartmentjof a refrigerator cabinet.

In carrying my 'invention into eiect, I provide a refrigerator cabinet having spaced apart inner and outer panels in which the inner panel defines a main refrigerated compartment. Between the two panels there is positioned an auxiliary chamber of a size suitable for use as a butter conditioner or the like. This auxiliary chamber has an access opening communicating with the main compartment and a back wall spaced somewhat from the outer panel of the cabinet. In order to warm the auxiliary chamber, there is provided, accordingV to my invention, -a ller body including at least some heat conducting material and this body is positioned between the chamber back wall and the cabinet outer panel. The remaining space between the two panels not occupied- 'by the auxiliary chamber and the filler body is generally llcd with heat insulating material in order to insulate the main compartment itself from the outer panel. And thus the filler body affords a heat transfer path between the chamber back wall and the outer panel effective to maintain the chamber at la ,higher temperature than the main refrigerator compartment.

Further, in my preferred embodiment the access opening between the auxiliary chamber and the main compartment is closed by a new and improved insulating door. By its novel construction this door greatly impedes heat transfer through the opening and thereby aids in maintaining thedesired temperature .differential between the compartments. Also means may be provided in accordance with myinvention for varying the effectivenessy of the heat transfer path between the outer panel and the auxiliary chamber whereby an adjustment of the auxiliary chamber ytemperature may be made. And

additionally the filler body may beso arranged that substantially no dew ,is formed on the outer panel as a result of the warming of the auxiliary chamber therefrom.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity ,in the a pended claims. lMy invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation may be best understood 'by reference to the following y,description taken in conjunction with the .accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet having an .auxiliary compartment embodying my invention mounted in the door thereof;

Fig. 2 is an .enlarged fragmentary view in vertical section showing a preferred embodiment of the auxiliar-y compartment arranged .in the refrigerator vdoor .of Fig. l;

Fig. .3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in vert-ica! section .showing an alternate embodiment of the compartment arranged in a refrigerator door; and,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,.

Referring `now to Fig. l `l have ,shown therein a household refrigerator 1 as illustrative of ythe type of refrigerating apparatus to which my :invention may be particularly Patented Feb. 26, 1957L well adapted. The refrigerator 1 includes a cabinet 2 within which is defined a main refrigerated compartment 3. As shown this compartment 3 is provided with an access opening which is closed by means of a door 4 mounted on cabinet 2 by means of vertical pivots 5 and 6. In other words when closed, door 4 constitutes the linal wall closing compartment 3.

The new and improved auxiliary chamber or butter conditioner of my invention ymay be mounted in any of the walls of the main refrigerated compartment since they all include similar spaced apart panel construction, but it is here shown as included in the door 4. As may be better seen in the preferred embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2 the butter conditioner consists of a chamber 7 defined by a shell 8 which is positioned between the inner and outer panels 9 and 10 of door 4. Specifically the shell 8 extends into the space between the inner and outer Cil panels through an aperture 11 in the inner panel 9, and

comprises an integral member including a bottom wall 12, a top wall 13, a back wall 14, and right and left side walls 15 and 16 (walls 15 and 16 shown in Fig. 4).

The forward or left-hand end of the shell, as viewed in Fig. 2 is, however, not closed off but rather provides an access opening 17 communicating with the main compartment 3. The access opening 17 itself is closed by a door 18, the construction of which forms one feature of my invention and will be described hereinafter. Further provided at the forward end of the shell is an inwardly extending rim or lip 19 which contacts the liner 9. This lip closes the gap between the shell and the liner aperture 11 and greatly enhances the appearance of the butter conditioner structure. In the preferred embodiment of Fig. 2, however, rim 19 is cut off along its lower portion 19a in order to provide access to a knob 20, the purpose and operation of this knob to be later explained.

As is common in refrigerator construction, the space surrounding the butter conditioner and in fact the space generally between inner and outer panels 9 and 10 and the spaces between the similar panels of the other walls of the cabinet are filled with heat insulating material 21, as for example fibre glass, in order that the main compartment 3 may be suitably insulated from the surrounding atmosphere. The result of this cabinet wall insulation is, of course, that heat is drawn into the main compartment 3 from any spaces contained within the cabinet and not so effectively isolated from compartment 3 as the outside atmosphere. Thus actually the chamber 7 is also refrigerated upon the cooling of the main comi partmcnt, and would in fact assume roughly the same temperature as the main compartment if the space between the outer panel 10 and its back wall 14 were lled with insulation. Even with door 18 and rim 1 9 offering impedance to the transfer of heat between chamber 7 and compartment 3. sufficient heat would still be withdrawn from chamber 7 into the main compartment, that without my new and improved heat transfer means, now to be described, chamber 7 would be kept at a temperature too low for proper storage of butter or the like. My new and improved means, however, provide for a sutiicient iiow of heat into chamber 7 that it is maintained at a desirable butter-spreading temperature even though heat constantly flows therefrom to the main compartment.

As shown in Fig. 2, this means comprises a filler body 22 which occupies the space between chamber back wall 14 and outer panel 10. In accordance with my invention this filler body contains at least some heat conducting material so that it comprises a heat transfer path by means of which heat is easily conducted from panel 10 to back wall 14. From wall 14 the heat, of course, enters chamber 7 and warms its contents to keep them at the desired temperature.

Various heat conducting materials may be used in forming the body or pad 22 but preferably a compressible thermal conducting material such as metallic wool is em.-

ployed. The exact composition of the filler body depends upon the distance between the back wall 14 and panel 10 and on the amount of heat which it is desired to transfer from the panel to the back wall. Thus for a given size gap the filler body would be formed entirely of heat conducting material, such as metallic wool to obtain a large heat transfer, whereas for a small heat transfer it would be formed of a mixture of metallic wool and insulating material in which the insulating material would be predominant. Conversely for a given rate of heat transfer, the ratio of conducting material to insulating material would increase in accordance with the width of the gap.

Now the purpose of filler body 22 is, of course, to warm chamber 7. But another result of the thermal flow path is that the area of the outer panel 10 adjacent back wall 14 and contacted by iller body 22 is somewhat cooled as the back wall is warmed. Unfortunately this cooling of the outer panel surface cannot be avoided, and it may lead to undesirable consequences if the outer' surface of the panel is allowed to fall to a sufficiently low temperature. If the outer surface of the outer panel drops below the dew point, moisture will collect thereon; or more simply, the outer panel will sweat.

In order to guard against this dew formation the ller body or pad 22 is extended outwardly along the outer panel to provide a heat transfer surface thereon greater than the area of the back wall 14 of the butter conditioner shell 8. In other words the area on the outer panel 10 contacted by the filler body is intentionally made greater than the area of back wall 14. This results in the heat for the butter conditioner being withdrawn from a rather large area ofthe panel, which area therefore never drops in temperature below the dew point. To doubly insure that sweating does not occur even then in the center of the panel area contacted by ller body 22, the body may be so formed that the heat transfer rate is substantially the same over the entire panel arca. Specifically the pad 22 is made so that the mixture of which it is formed contains a higher ratio of conducting material to insulating material in the outer portions of the pad than in the center portion thereof. In other words for best results. i. e. to positively guard against the formation of dew on outer panel 10, the pad 22 will contain a greater ratio of conducting material to insulating material in its edge portions than in its center portion.

As further shown in Fig. 2 the body 22 may also be formed to overlap the side portions of the shell 8 adjacent to back wall 14. Through this overlapping construction heat is, of course, transferred from the pad to the shell over a greater area. This, of course, results in a greater heating of the shell and the contents thereof than would be accomplished if the pad were to touch only the back wall. Depending upon various factors. however, such as the size of the conditioner shell, thc temperature to be maintained in chamber 7. the temperature of compartment 3, etc., this overlapping of the pad around the shell sides may not be necessary.

In order to prevent the heat transferred to shell 8 and its contents by means of the pad 22 from escaping directly to the main compartment 3 the access opening 17 to chamber 7 is closed as before mentioned by a door 18. This door 18 is pivoted to the side walls 15 and 16 of shell 8 by means of pivot pins 23 and 24 so that it swings upwardly and inwardly to permit access to the contents of chamber 7, laterally extending flanges 25 and 26 being provided on the door to mount the pins. An inwardly extending lip 27 on the upper edge of shell 8 prevents any appreciable heat loss around the upper edge of the door, and a stop 28 against which the bottorn edge of the door rests prevents any large heat loss thereabout.

In order to prevent appreciable heat loss through the `main portion of the door itself there is provided, according to my invention, a construction which minimizes such losses, Specifically, according to my invention, the door is so constructed that `both a dead air space .and a radiation barrier are offered as obstructions fto the transfer of heat therethrough. To accomplish this construction the outer member 29 of the door is formed in a dished configuration -and a liner 30 is attached thereto so as to form in effect a chord across the dish. The liner 30 thus effectively isolates the space 31 lying between it and the door member 29 from the chamber 7 and thereby forms a dead air space. This dead air space, of course, offers considerable resistance to both the conduction'and convection of heat. To still further minimize the transfer through the door a radiation barrier is also provided therein. Speciiically, in my preferred construction a heat reflector 32 is mounted in the center of the dead air space. This refiector may of course take various forms but it has been found that a thin piece or strip of metallic foil will produce satisfactory results.

Through the use of this novel door structure the heat ylosses from chamber 7 are kept to such a small -amount that the heat entering thereto through pad 22 is eiective to maintain the chamber 7 at a somewhat higher temperature than the main refrigerated compartment 3. More exactly if the temperature within refrigerated compartment 3 is maintained at approximately the normal ternperature of a fresh food compartment, for example 35 Fahrenheit the temperature within chamber 7 will be maintained at a temperature of about 60 F. at which temperature butter is preserved but kept at a :spreading temperature. Since a portion of the wallsof the shell 8 are lnecessarily maintained at a temperature slightly below the chamber temperature as a whole, it has Ibeen found advisable to keep the butter out of contact with the shell walls. And for that purpose a butter dish 33 is provided, the butter dish having legs which elevate its body portion somewhat from the chamber door 12.

As thus far described the conditioner `will produce excellent results for the range of ambient temperatures ordinarily encountered. In other words, if the compartment 3 is maintained at the normal fresh food compartment temperature, say about 35 F., and the ambient temperature surrounding refrigerator 1 is in the normal range from perhaps 75 F. to 90 F., the construction so far described will maintain the conditioner in the range wherein any butter therein will be kept at'spreading temperatures. The size and mixture ratio of filler body 22 may, of course, be changed to adapt the conditioner to any particular size refrigerator cabinet. However, yin order to take care of abnormal situations when the ambient temperature surrounding the cabinet may rise to extremely high levels, I have provided in the preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 2 a means for varying the capacity of the heat transfer path between the butter conditioner and the outer panel. In other words, I have provided a means whereby the heat conducting effectiveness of the filler body 22 may be varied.

In order to accomplish this variation, 'I provide manually operable means for disp-lacing at least a yportion of the pad relative to its normal position. This displacement results in a dead air space being provided in the heat transfer path and `thereby cuts down the `concluetion between the outer panel 1i) and the back wall 14 of the chamber 7. in Fig. 2 I have shown one preferred means for causing this displacement of the pad. The means there shown for supplying this result comprise a inetaliic plate 35.1 which is pivoted to the chamber back wall 14 at its upper edge by a hinge means 35. In its normal position the plate 34 rests against shell back wall it? along its entire length. However, as indicated by the dotted lines, as the plate is pivoted around the hinge means, a greater and greater angle is formed between the plate and the back Wall.

As plate 34 pivots away from back wall 14 it moves toward outer panel and compresses the filler body 22. This tends to provide a somewhat better conductive path from the liner to the plate itself; but behind the plate a deady air space is created `which overrides .the aforesaid effect `so that the entire conductive path `between panel 10 and Wall 14 is rendered less effective. lInother words, the dead air space created by the movement of the metal wall tends to 4insulate wall 14 somewhat from panel 10. The extent of movement of the metallic plate from the conditioner wall and thus the size of the dead air space created will `of course be determined by the ambient temperature and the temperature it is desi-red to maintain within chamber 7.

Various means may of course be used to actuate the movable lplate 34 lor other pad displacing means, but in Fig. 2 I have shown one simple preferred way of providing such actuation. 20 which is connected to a cam 36 by .means of a shaft 37. The shaft 37 and thereby the knob and the cam are rotatably supported by apair of mounting members 38 attached to the bottom wall 12 of shell 8. Cooperating with `the cam 36 to move Aplate 34 is a follower arm 39 formed integrally with the plate. As is shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2 rotation of the knob 20 so displaces cam 36 along follower 39 that plate 34 may be pivoted toward or away from liner 10. In other words the size of the dead air space between the plate and wall 14 may be controlled through rotation of knob 20. And thus` the heat flow path between liner 19 and shell 8 may be so varied that the butter within chamber 7 may be maintained in the desired spreading condition no matter what the ambient temperatures surrounding refrigerator 1.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown therein an alternate embodiment of ymy invention, like members in Figs'. 3 and 4 and Fig. 2 being numbered identically. The embodiment shown in Figs. 3` and k4 is identical to that shown in Fig. 2 except that a somewhat diierent heat transfer pad is provided and the means for varying the effectiveness of the heat transfer path are omitted. Specifically here again a shell 8 is positioned between the inner and outer panels 9 and lil of a refrigerator door. The shell S includes an access opening 17 to the main compartment of the refrigerator and that access opening is closed by a door 18. The shell has further provided on it an inwardly extending rim 19 for closing off the space lying between its walls and the aperture 11 through which it projects into the space between panels 9 and 16. In this embodiment, however, the rim 19 contacts the liner 9 even along the lower portion of the butter conditioner, since here no room need be left for access to an adjusting knob.

VAs `in Fig. 2 the space between the panels 9 and 10 is generally filled with insulating material 2f.; and in :accordance with my invention a heat transfer path is provided between the rear wall 14 of the shell S and the panel 10. Here again, the heat transfer path consists of a filler body `including heatconductive material, this body or pad being kcomprised of two separate pads 22a and 4t). The pad 22a is formed -of a vmixture of heat conducting material and insulation, as for example, a mixture of metallic wool and fibre glass, and is only as large in surface area as the area of the back wall 14. In other words, `it covers on liner 10 only an area as large `as the area of back wall 14.

Such a small pad might result in dew formation on the panel .except that around the pad 22a there is provided the second portion of the filler body or pad comprising the annular pad 40 which is formed entirely of conducting material. This pad 40, since it extends outwardly along the panel 10 from shell 8, provides :a path whereby heat may be transferred from outlying areas of the panel 10 to pad 22a and thence to the rear wall 14 of the conditioner. In other words the pad 40 provides additional heat transfer area on the liner from which heat may be picked up and passed to wall 14 through pad 22a, land thereby so enlarges the heat transfer area that no dew will ordinarily be formed on the outside of panel 10. Since pad 40 is a better conductor of heat than This means comprises the knobl pad 22a roughly the same Vamount of heat is picked by each for a given area of the outer -panel even though pad 40 is more remote from the receiver of the transferred heat, shell 8. The heat transfer rate is roughly the same at the edge portions of the filler body as in the center portion thereof and thus even localized sweating is avoided on the panel.

Since pads 22a and 40 may be completely preformed, and since no adjusting means are included, this second embodiment of my invention is somewhat less expensive to construct than the embodiment shown in Fig. 2. But for the ordinary range of ambient temperatures encountered in household refrigeration it will produce equally satisfactory results. In other words, under ordinary operating conditions both within and without the refrigerator cabinet it will keep any butter stored in chamber 7 at a spreading temperature. The heat transfer path provided by pads 40 and 22a are effective to pass suicient heat to the butter through back wall 14 of the conditioner in all ordinary circumstances.

In summation, by my invention l have provided a butter conditioner wherein no electrical heating means are required. Due to its new and improved heat transfer means which may be adapted to any size refrigerator cabinet, the need for any heating elements is completely obviated. Moreover as illustrated by my preferred embodiment this new and improved conditioner may be provided with manually operable means whereby it `can be adjusted to operate satisfactorily even under the severest operating conditions. Further, the novel heat transfer means may be so formed that substantially no moisture or dew collects on the outer panel of the refrigerator cabinet. And if, as shown, these heat transfer means are further combined with my novel door structure, little or no additional load is placed on the refrigerating system over that which would be present if the butter conditioner were omitted completely.

ln accordance with the patent statutes I have described what at present are considered to be the preferred embodi ments of my invention. However, it should be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modications may be made therein without departing from my invention, and l, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What l claim as new and desire to Secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A refrigerator cabinet having spaced apart inner and outer panels with said inner panel defining a refrigerated compartment, an auxiliary chamber positioned between said panels and having an access opening to said compartment and a back wall spaced from said outer panel, a filler body including heat conducting material positioned between said back wall and said outer panel to afford a heat transfer path therebetween for maintaining said chamber at a higher temperature than said compartment, heat insulating material generally filling the remaining space between said panels, and manually operable means for displacing at least a portion of said body relative to the normal position thereof to provide a dead air space in said heat transfer path between said back wall and said outer panel.

, 2. A refrigerator cabinet having spaced apart inner and outer panels with said inner panel defining a refrigerated compartment, an auxiliary chamber positioned be tween said panels and having an access opening to said compartment and a back wall spaced from said outer panel, a filler body including heat conducting material positioned between said back wall and said outer panel to afford a heat transfer path therebetween for maintaining said chamber at a higher temperature than said compartment, heat insulating material generally filling the remaining space between said panels, and manually operable means for compressing said body to provide a dead air space in said heat transfer path between said back wall and said outer panel.

3. A refrigerator cabinet having spaced apart inner and outer panels with said inner panel defining a refrigerated compartment, an auxiliary chamber positioned between said panels and having an access opening to said compartment and a back wall spaced from said outer panel, a pad formed of a mixture of heat conducting material and heat insulating material positioned between said back wall and said outer panel to afford a heat transfer path therebetween, said pad further extending outwardly along said panel to provide a heat transfer sur face area thereon greater than the area of said chamber back wall, insulating material generally filling the rcmaining space between said panels and manually operable means disposed between said back wall and said pad for displacing` at least a portion of said pad relative to the normal position thereof to provide a dead air space in the heat transfer path between said back wall and said outer panel.

4. A refrigerator cabinet having spaced apart inner and outer panels with said inner panel defining a refrigerated compartment, an auxiliary chamber positioned be tween said panels and having an access opening to said compartment and a back wall spaced from said outer panel, a pad formed of a mixture of heat insulating rnaterial and heat conducting material positioned between said back wall and said outer panel to afford a heat transfer path therebetween, said pad further extending outwardly along said outer panel to provide a heat transfer surface area thereon greater than the area of said chamber back wall, heat insulating material generally filling the remaining space between said panels, and manually operable means pivotally connected to said back wall of said chamber between said back wall and said pad for compressing said pad to provide a dead air space in said heat transfer path between said back wall and said outer panel.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,959,934 Smith May 22, 1934 2,068,550 Knight Jan. 19, 1937 2,150,064 John et al Mar. 7, 1939 2,187,470 Collins lan. 16, 194() 2,225,926 Oelmann Dec. 24, 1940 2,311,549 James Feb. 16, 1943 2,322,769 Norberg lune 29, 1943 2,363,375 Wild Nov. 2l, 1944 2,612,029 Schrader Sept. 30, 1952 

